Personal touches, creative storage add to home office functionality

If you’ve ever watched just five minutes of any show on HGTV in which people are house hunting or remodeling, you’ll see a common theme: the home office. It shows up on the must-have list for virtually every homeowner.

According to consulting and research firm Global Workplace Analytics, the work-at-home population grew 29.4 percent from 2005 to 2012, including self-employed and telecommuters. That growth is a widespread trend, including in Charleston where entrepreneurs and small-business owners are converting space in their homes for creative and functional home offices.

When Stacey Heilman and her family were moving from Summerville to Mount Pleasant, a home office was a requirement. In her Summerville house, she used a loft area as her office and art studio but she was quickly outgrowing the space and it couldn’t accommodate her larger projects: painting tables and chairs.

“My stuff was spilling over into the kitchen and den,” she said. “I need to keep all my projects in one place so it doesn’t take over the whole house.”